The present invention relates to gels and their use in frozen confections. In particular the invention relates to gels made with poly-anionic gelling hydrocolloids, because such materials give pleasing textures with visual clarity, wobble, strength, minimal adhesiveness as well as good flavor release and mouthfeel.
Hydrocolloidal gels for use in food products may be prepared by a variety of methods and from a variety of materials. In order for controlled dosing and shaping of these materials, such techniques normally require an initial preparation of a fluid hydrocolloid solution called a sol that has to be heated, maintained hot and then hot-filled into molds.
Typically, the sol will degrade if held hot for any significant period of time. Such degradation leads to losses of gel strength in the ultimate gel and to the introduction of increasing degrees of adverse adhesiveness in the final product. Yet, if allowed to cool, such a sol will set, with adverse effects both to production handling and to finished product quality.
Others have suggested alternative materials to avoid this problem.
JP 2000 004793 relates to an iced dessert with a jelly-like solid item coated with ice cream. This product is jelly-like, not a true gel and is produced by insoluble dietary fiber such as sweet potato fiber.
JP 1118789 relates to a frozen dessert containing sugar alcohols and curdlan. Curdlan is not a polyanionic hydrocolloid. Curdlan is a non-ionic polysaccharide derived from the microbe called A. faecalis and has a linear beta 1-3 glucose backbone. Curdlan is not an approved food material in USA or Europe and the conditions under which it forms its gel are not those used in many of the processes of the food industry. Curdlan is insoluble in cold water and undergoes hydration and subsequent gelation upon heating at above 80xc2x0 C.
JP 2000 50802 relates to the formation of a ring design using two fluid ingredients of different color. Similarly, JP 1999 346659 relates to a swirl design food based upon molding and nozzle devices. These references do not relate to a gel or to a method of making a gel.
JP 1973 20313 relates to the use of alginates as ingredients within shape retaining ice cream. After thawing, the alginates absorb the water that is released from the melting ice. This does not relate to a separate gel, or to a method of making a separate gel, although it is acknowledged that the thawed ice cream does itself have some gel character.
DDR 1978 0152 582 relates to the process of utilizing enzymes to create hydrolysed maize starch that in a heated aqueous suspension forms a dextrinaceous mass (15 dextrose equivalent or DE) that gels upon cooling. The process requires a temperature of 95-100xc2x0 C. in order to inactivate the enzyme. Such temperatures have been found to be antagonistic to polyanionic hydrocolloids in the absence of a gel inhibitor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,263 discloses a method for coating a frozen confection product containing calcium ions by dipping the frozen confection into a flowable aqueous medium containing an alkali metal alginate to form a coating thereon and spraying the coated product with an aqueous solution of a calcium salt. It is believed that the calcium in the frozen confection reacts with the alcali metal alginate in the flowable aqueous medium to form a gel on the surface of the frozen confection and that the calcium salt in the spray reacts with the alcali metal alginate in the coating to form a gel on the outside surface of the frozen confection.
For the purposes of food preparation for manufactured frozen desserts, the components are first pasteurized and then held at temperatures close to 4xc2x0 C. until utilized in the shaping/forming processes, and then the product is frozen. In such a production process, even with all due diligence paid to forward planning, it is typical that the pasteurized part-processed material may need to be kept for periods in excess of 24 h. It is for proper microbiological and hygiene reasons, i.e., to avoid spoilage, that such storage is typically held under cold conditions, e.g., about 4xc2x0 C.
In order to utilize conventional frozen confection molded lines, a product with novel eating qualities of a frozen gel that has not been overheated. Accordingly, there is a need for hydrocolloidal gels that do not undergo hot-storing and hot-filling. In terms of process efficiency and possible damages to molds, particularly welded molds, it is desirable to limit or even avoid very hot filling, e.g., at temperatures in excess of about 50xc2x0 C. In addition, holding the sol at cold post pasteurization conditions permits certain simple energy savings. This is because the pasteurizer exit heat can then be withdrawn from the product in a regeneration heat exchanger thus warming up the pasteurizer product feed.
The present invention now provides a novel gelling system that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.
The invention relates to a frozen dessert product comprising as gel providing ingredients an anionic gelling hydrocolloid and a gelation controller or inhibitor. These ingredients provide or form a gel having a hardness of between about 25 and 150 g and an adhesiveness of less than 5 g.s.
The invention also relates to a method that can be utilized to prepare such food products without causing inherent changes in ultimate gel nature or loss of gel character. This method involves the steps of preparing a liquid sol that contains a gel forming mixture of an anionic gelling hydrocolloid together with a gel controller or inhibitor, adding the mixture to at least a portion of a formulation that is to be used to prepare the food product, and neutralizing the gel controller or inhibitor immediately before shaping, forming or packaging of the product in order to provide a food product that contains a gel therein.
Other novel products and methods of manufacture are disclosed herein. For example, a composite frozen confection comprising multiple components can be made wherein at least one of the components includes the gel providing ingredients described herein. Also, in another method, a composite frozen confection is prepared by making two mixes, one with an anionic gelling hydrocolloid and the other with a water ice and a setting salt, cold blending the two mixes, filling the blended mixes into molds, quiescently freezing the molds, inserting sticks into the blended mixes before completion of the freezing step, and demolding and packaging of the products thus produced. Alternatively, a composite frozen confection can be prepared by filling molds with a water ice mix, forming a frozen layer on the side wall of the molds, removing any remaining liquid contents from the molds, filling empty spaces in the molds with heated gel in order to produce a shell and core split, quiescently freezing the molds, inserting sticks into the cores before completion of the freezing step, and demolding and packaging of the products thus produced.